WO2012124293 discloses a two-stage centrifugal compressor including notably:                an hermetic housing,        a drive shaft rotatably arranged within the hermetic housing,        a first and a second compression stage configured to compress a refrigerant, the first and second compression stages respectively including a first and a second impeller, the first and second impellers being connected to the drive shaft and being arranged in a back-to-back configuration,        a radial annular groove formed between the back-sides of the first and second impellers,        an inter-stage sealing arrangement provided between the first and second compressor stages and in the radial annular groove,        a radial bearing arrangement configured to rotatably support the drive shaft, and        a thrust bearing arrangement configured to limit an axial movement of the drive shaft during operation.        
During operation of such a two-stage centrifugal compressor, the axial loads applied on the thrust bearing arrangement are high, which requires the provision of a large thrust bearing arrangement to withstand the axial loads applied on the latter. This results in a centrifugal compressor having high power consumption.